My little sister used to play a LOT of Minecraft. I would dabble, but she would create these intricate worlds on Creative Mode with streets, houses, schools, and businesses. Within the gaming interface, my sister actually did a lot of sneaky math – calculating perimeter, area, and volume were commonplace.
I LOVE the idea of using Minecraft (and maybe some other games, like Roblox) for learning. I’m writing this blog post over a coffee with my good friend, Megan. Minecraft is actually how my friend Megan learned her 8 times tables up to 64, because that’s the maximum stack of blocks you can have! Megan would also go on Creative Mode as a kid, and copy the animals that you could spawn into giant statue-style models – and there’s a lot of math in this! Copying the small chicken and building it on a larger scale involves ratios and multiplication.
MCKids Academy: A Revolution in Game-Based Learning
For this weekly reflection, I also wanted to highlight an example I’ve seen of Minecraft being used to meet curricular goals, albeit outside of the classroom. A friend of mine from high school was homeschooled all through elementary school by her mum, Anna. She’s neurodivergent and always had an interest in games, especially Minecraft. Anna found that Minecraft became a “learning playground” when homeschooling Emi – here is an excerpt from their website explaining things:
Anna ‘Momibelle’ Belluz has used online gaming to connect with her students for over 12 years. Trained in play-therapy concepts, and former creative director, Anna is mom to Emiliana ‘Emibelle’ Belluz now support instructor (age 20 and the reason we play Minecraft!). Together we incorporate a host of established learning plans with your children. We use a combination of aligned curricular subjects that can include Sciences, Math, Programming, Literacy and the Arts to connect and engage your child. A focus throughout our sessions together include self-management/regulation prompts, digital literacy and netiquette, collaboration and social-emotional learning skills on our private, Momibelle -monitored custom built, Minecraft servers.
During the years that Momibelle homeschooled Emibelle, we discovered that in an educator -guided gaming environment, there were endless opportunities for learning through Minecraft. Most if not all curricular subjects can be incorporated while we play, with team-based building and exploration activities that encourage social-emotional growth, problem-solving and positive/supportive play practices. 21st century skills include critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration, too! Our camps and online classes are an awesome educational enhancement for kids who already love the game. In addition to guiding your child through the technical aspects of play and socially acceptable behaviors, we provide planned opportunities that help reinforce past learning and encourages inquiry based learning and self-regulation practice all in the open-ended virtual sand-box playground, Minecraft!
Here is the link to the website: https://www.minecampkids.com
Their company, MCKids Academy, has been offering educational Minecraft gaming classes and camps since 2012, and they’re still going – for example, they are running a week-long spring break camp at a local community centre. Emi is now an instructor as well. I think this is a great inspiration to teachers who want to try using games in the classroom to meet curriculum goals.
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